London Knights coach interviews for Canada’s next world junior coach

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Dale Hunter has made his case to be Canada’s next world junior hockey coach.

The London Knights bench boss interviewed for the position last week, with a selection committee featuring the Canadian Hockey League’s three commissioners, including the OHL’s David Branch and a handful of Hockey Canada brass.

“It was a good interview,” Hunter said. “It’s a lot of hockey talk. They know (about a coach’s record). This is about your views on everything. Basically, it’s how would you handle different situations (like the media, for example).”

The man in charge of the national men’s under-20 team will be working under a major league microscope. Canada hasn’t won the gold medal in five years and the 2015 tournament will be held jointly in big markets Toronto and Montreal.

Hunter became a leading candidate to succeed Brent Sutter after guiding Canada’s under-18 team to gold at the Ivan Hlinka tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia last summer — his first international assignment. The three-time OHL coach of the year boasts a career 550-216-17-41 record in 13 seasons with the Knights, who suffered a disappointing 0-3 record at their third straight Memorial Cup appearance, this time on home ice at Budweiser Gardens last month.

“Everyone wants to represent their country,” Hunter said. “I never got that chance as a player but if it happens, it happens, and if not, there’s always other years.”

Gleason, Rymsha sign

The Knights have locked up two more American players — second-round pick Ben Gleason and 5th round forward Drake Rymsha. Gleason, a 16-year-old defenceman from Ortonville, Mich., played for the Detroit Honeybaked midgets last season. Rymsha, from Huntington Woods, Mich., produced 41 points in 33 games for the Toronto Junior Canadiens midget team last year. Both will report to training camp in late August.